The Academy students were the type who would progress well on their own once given direction. This was possible because the Institute only accepted students with decent grades.
Yuria offered advice to a few students who needed help before returning to her laboratory.
As she had mentioned, four people were seated there. Three, excluding Urr.
The members of the Study Group. This was why Yuria had ended her work early and returned to the lab.
Typically, forming a study group meant more management work for professors, making it a nuisance. But for Yuria, who had taken on the role of Urr's guardian, it seemed like a good opportunity, so she created the group as soon as she found willing participants.
Third-year students needed to write their Graduation Thesis, so she could help them. First-years could receive guidance from third-years—whether through old exam papers or other means—to improve their grades. And someone with spare time among them could teach Urr how to write.
She judged this arrangement to be clearly efficient.
Yuria thought it was important to first understand why the students had joined, so she handed out pieces of paper.
"Here, I'll give you these papers. Please write down why you joined the Study Group. Even something simple is fine."
Looking at her paper, Sera pondered seriously. She wanted to write that she wanted to attend the Institute, but since the purpose behind that was still unclear, she spent a long time thinking.
Aria, sitting across from Urr, wrote quickly. 'Graduation Thesis.' It was her roundabout way of saying she came for Professor Yuria's help. Though for something indirect, it was quite straightforward.
Karen glanced nervously at Yuria, and after seeing the professor nod, she began writing. She wrote that she wanted to study more deeply. She immediately folded the paper in half, seemingly embarrassed to show it to others.
As silence fell over the room, Sera finally wrote something down. Yuria thought it was time to collect the papers.
But Yuria's voice didn't come.
For a moment, she felt like she couldn't breathe. She had asked them to write why they joined the Study Group, and seeing the small word 'human' written on Urr's paper felt like it was tearing her heart apart.
There was a madman out there frantically researching to become a Demon God, and here was a Demon God who wanted to become human. She wondered what kind of world this had become.
Why do you want to become human? She wanted to ask. But the words wouldn't come out. Everything felt like her fault, so she just kept quiet.
Whenever she recalled that day, she still felt like a villain, her heart breaking.
She could have not known. She didn't know, and it was something she couldn't have predicted. Despite being able to rationalize it to herself, whenever she saw Urr, she couldn't rationalize it and just bowed her head.
Yuria always felt guilty in front of Urr.
She bit her lip, blaming herself for treating Urr like a child and for shining light on something strange inside her.
Urr was concentrating on drawing a circle. Yuria thought she might be drawing a Magic Circle, but then Urr drew another smaller circle inside. Realizing the silence around her, Urr looked up with a dazed expression.
"...Huh?"
Yuria looked at the pizza-like drawing Urr had made and promised to let her eat whatever she wanted.
Sera, Aria, and Karen seemed to share the same thought, immediately agreeing unanimously to make her comfortable.
**
Somehow, I ended up eating pizza in the professor's laboratory. I'm not sure why the atmosphere suddenly changed like this, but anyway, I was absentmindedly chewing pizza in this quiet space.
When I bit into it and pulled my head back, the cheese stretched out. As the cheese snapped and I lowered my head, sticking out my tongue to catch it, Sera, who was watching from the side, chuckled.
"What are you doing, eating like that?"
"...Cheese satisfaction."
That was all I could answer.
As always, I didn't feel hunger, nor did I understand the sensation of a full stomach. In this state where I could either not eat if there wasn't enough or eat everything if there was too much, feeling satisfied while eating was rare.
So, in a situation where eating was just something I did without thinking, what could I do to feel satisfaction?
I had tried filling my mouth completely and chewing thoroughly to feel fullness, but that could lead to monotony, and it might cause the unfortunate incident of someone touching my cheeks again, saying I looked like a squirrel. So I had to find another method, and this was it.
Since it was cheese, stretching it out while eating was both fun and beneficial.
"Nom."
After eating the last thin strand of cheese, Aria got up and touched my lips.
It happened so suddenly that I was dazed, and then her finger moved to her own mouth.
"—Ah, there was sauce on it."
"Uh, what?"
Karen, sitting next to Aria, looked at me with a surprised expression, and so did the professor. At the same time, Sera pointed at Aria in protest.
"Hey, hey, why are you eating that?"
"I can't feed it to Urr, can I?"
That's a problem too, but she could have just told me about it.
I had thoughts I wanted to express, but I decided to just continue chewing my cheese quietly. I figured if Sera said something, Aria would respond accordingly, so I let it go.
As I was chewing, the professor gently brushed my hair and smiled.
"Is it delicious?"
"Yes."
She made a slightly choked-up expression, which gave me a strange feeling. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination or not, so I tilted my head and looked at her.
"...Professor, aren't you eating?"
I carefully asked, remembering how I had selfishly tried to reach into the vending machine before. The professor patted my head as if she was proud of me for asking.
"Watching Urr eat makes me full."
Ironically, I'm the one who doesn't need to eat.
Since I had a body that didn't need to eat, whether others ate or not had nothing to do with me.
I never thought I'd feel so strange about realizing that the world revolves around "oneself."
Anyway, as the professor tried to brush it off saying she was fine not eating, I stared at her for a while and then put down the pizza in my hand.
"You're not eating anymore?"
Ignoring the professor's surprised voice, I picked up another piece of pizza. I couldn't give her what I had been eating.
The newly separated pizza piece still felt hot as not much time had passed. Using the minimum number of fingers that could withstand the heat, I held it out to the professor.
"Professor, please eat..."
I already felt small, and sitting in the chair made me feel even smaller. Despite struggling, I stretched out both arms, and the professor smiled at my gesture.
Holding both arms high made me feel like I was being punished.
"Oh my, Urr doing this for me makes the professor happy."
The professor wore a genuinely happy expression as she took a bite of the pizza. Though she restrained her expression somewhat because Sera and the other students were present, she couldn't help but hum softly.
The professor took the pizza from me after taking a big bite. Thanks to her quick response, my arms were freed. My clothes were bigger than my size, making them feel heavier, but now that weight was gone.
After catching my breath with a "phew," I tried to continue eating my pizza. The professor slightly extended her pizza toward me.
"Would Urr like a bite?"
"...Uh, okay."
I wanted to say I had my own, but sometimes people can't say what they want to due to the atmosphere. This was exactly that situation.
Since I was worried about the professor's fluctuating mood, I silently took a bite to try to stabilize it.
I didn't intend to take what the professor was eating, but I felt a bit self-conscious.
I could see Sera, Aria, and Karen all staring at the professor and me. As I sweated nervously meeting their gazes, proposals bordering on protests immediately came flooding in.
"Urr, eat, eat my pizza too...!"
"I'll fill your mouth completely."
Sera and Aria aggressively brought their pizzas over.
Startled, I quickly chewed the pizza in my mouth and swallowed it with a gulp, closing my eyes tightly. I tried to back away with a "hic," but sitting in a chair, there was nowhere to retreat.
As I frantically looked back and forth between Sera and Aria in horror, Karen carefully tore a piece of pizza with her hand.
I thought it strange that anyone would eat like that these days, but it wasn't for herself. She stood up from her seat.
"...Friends usually eat like this."
She approached me and held out the torn pizza piece. Though its shape was distorted from being torn by hand, she offered it as if it was perfectly fine.
As I stared at it, she popped it into my mouth. Somehow, it looked like I was sucking on Karen's fingers, but she acted like it was nothing and put the rest of the cheese into my mouth.
Everyone eats like this...? This seems a bit much, I thought, when Sera beside me exclaimed in admiration.
"This is what first-years are like... not easy."